Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Friday, January 23, 2009

Amish White Bread

I know that it's a bit of a contradiction in terms to put the words Amish and KitchenAid together, but this is an Amish bread recipe from a clipping that I adapted for the KitchenAid. I know a lot of folks love their bread machines, and I own one. It's in the garage. Frankly using a KitchenAid stand mixer really makes the process of bread making so much more simple and the result is two large loaves instead of just one small one. Of course if you don't own a stand mixer you can certainly still make this by hand - with a little more elbow grease.

When using bread flour, this recipe produces a beautiful fluffy, tender and light loaf that just melts in your mouth. You can certainly substitute all purpose flour, but you'll have smaller loaves. Adding 2 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten per cup of all purpose flour seems to help. This is simply a delicious bread and is definitely a keeper.

Microwave water for about 3 minutes or until it reaches 110 degrees F. Put yeast into a separate small bowl, add about 1 teaspoon of the sugar to the yeast and about 1/4 cup of the warm water. Stir well and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until yeast foams up and doubles.

Attach the dough hook to your mixer and add 4 cups of the flour to the mixing bowl; turn the mixer on speed 1. Add the salt and the remaining sugar and mix together. Add the remaining warm water, the yeast mixture, and the oil; mix.

Scrape the sides of the bowl, turn to speed 2 and begin to add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough cleans the sides of the mixer bowl and clings to the hook. It is possible that you may not use all of the flour. Continue kneading on speed 2 for about 2 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic but still slightly sticky.

Spray top of dough and sides of mixing bowl with a light coat of non-stick spray, turn the dough over and spray the top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place into a warm, draft free spot for about 1 hour or until doubled.

Punch down and turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Separate into two pieces, cover with a towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Flatten into a rectangle and roll up, pinching the seams together and tucking in the ends.

Spray two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and place the shaped loaves into the pans. Put in a warm spot and allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen about 1-inch above pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

To Prepare by Hand: Stir all of the ingredients together by hand using a sturdy wooden spoon. When dough comes together and cleans the side of the bowl, turn dough onto a floured surface and knead, using the heel of your hand to push on the dough, folding it and turning it a quarter turn, until the dough is smooth and elastic but still a little sticky. How long will depend on your speed and strength!! Place in the greased bowl, cover, let rise and continue with the recipe.

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62 comments:

I am loving this recipe. The kitchenaid just makes easy work of it. My only question is about the vegetable oil. I didn't see it used anywhere in the recipe. Just for clarity, that can be used in substitute for the cooking spray. I seem to find those used interchangeably to oil the bowl in most recipes I stumble across.This bread is baking right now and I have to tell you my kitchen smells DIVINE!! Thanks so much for posting this recipe.

I'm gonna have to rewrite that Sherry - you can't really see it in the recipe well. Where it says "Add the salt and the remaining sugar and mix together. Add the remaining warm water and the yeast and blend together; stir in oil. "

I love this recipe! Perfect, beautiful loaves... amazing crumb! Here in Hawaii, it's hard finding a good recipe - between the heat and the humidity - but, this one is IT! I have to shorten the times on the yeast and first rise because of the climate here. But, I don't alter the recipe at all! My Kitchen Aid Mixer loves, too! Thank you for this recipe!

You certainly may halve the recipe for a single loaf. As far as freezing, I'm not a huge fan of freezing homemade dough. The yeast can get iffy about rising and frankly, it takes a bit of extra time since you have to thaw it completely in the fridge and then let it rise. To freeze dough, you'll prepare it, let it go through the first rise, form the loaves, but then wrap for the freezer. Thaw in the fridge, transfer to the loaf pan & let it rise in a warm spot, then bake.

I have only made these loaves as written so can't recommend any adjustments that I can guarantee are fail safe. That said, it's pretty savory to me and not a sugary sweet bread. Before making adjustments to a recipe I do always suggest trying it the first time exactly as written, then play around with the ingredients on the next bake. That way you can adequately compare the two!

I actually used 1/2 cup of honey instead of the sugar. It worked great. I use raw clover honey which is a deep flavor. Also I only bake one loaf at a time and freeze the other two and had no issues. I use 1/2 artisan bread flour and half hard whole wheat. It still was so light and yummy.

I had always made bread in my bread maker, but alas it finally died last week.I had heard so many people talk about making bread in their Mix Master and came across this recipe.Needless to say, it is one of the nicest breads I have ever baked and it will become my go to recipe from now on.I didn't find it any more work than doing the dough cycle in the bread machine which I had always done.Thanks so much for the great recipe.

I just made this this weekend, and loved it! It will definitely be my new go to bread recipe! I also made a 2nd batch and at the step where you roll it out, I brushed on melted butter and added cinnamon and sugar for some cinnamon twist bread They were both delicious! Thanks for sharing! :)

I love this recipe. I found it about 6 weeks ago and have not stopped baking. I have two loaves baking right now. EVERY loaf has turned out perfect. I did not change anything in the recipe. Thank you.Debbie in Indiana

Isn't this an amazing bread? And trust me, if you know anything about me you know I'm not much of a baker!! Congratulations on the new grandson. I know everybody is gonna enjoy that homemade bread & jam!! Have a safe trip & lots of love to that baby!

I don't know but let us know! If the dough was tough could you have used a bit too much flour? You only want to use enough flour until the dough cleans the sides of the mixer bowl and clings to the hook. It is possible that you may not use all of the flour called for in the recipe. I'm hoping that it will still turn out because this really is a great bread recipe!

Hi MaryThis recipe was delicious!! and also very easy to make!! But my question is (because my family likes to whine =) If I wanted to make it "less dense" or "lighter" would I be able to just decrease the amount of yeast in the recipe?

Thank you for this recipe. It’s a nudge to get me going again. I’ve been lazy and haven’t made bread since before Christmas: And the breads that are out there are terrible. There’s definitely something that’s not right when a loaf of bread lasts 4 weeks. People need to remember that a longer shelf life… shortens your life.Making bread, even thought it’s based on formulas, is not rocket science; and it’s a whole lot better for you. The use of a stand mixer, like Kitchen Aid, makes the process a whole lot easier. And for those who suffer with arthritis, as I do, the Kitchen Aid is capable of doing a second knead; with a little practice and experimentation: And screw-ups are not defeats, they’re but a hiccup in the lessons. I’ve suffered most of them, including having the executive chef wanting to know from which floor I launched the 50 lb. sack of flour. Yes, I can be messy.If people can’t deal with the time factor or mixers and the like, there’s always bread machines; and there are some pretty nice ones out there. They’ve come a long way over the years. I know. I’ve burnt out 4 of them over the last 35+ years.BTW, if you trade off some of the bread flour for whole wheat flour, you’ll come up with a great hearty white-wheat.As the Bible says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Enjoy. Thanks again. God bless.

Love it, hubby brings sandwiches for lunch every day at $4 a loaf I knew I could make it for less and have a fresher better loaf of bread. 2 loaves were made for almost pennies. I am going to do the break down to get exact amount per loaf. Will freeze one so I don't have to bake that often. Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.

Hi.Can you use Avco, oil??And is this recipe like the Amish use??Also this recipe is not like the one in the Kitchen aid book,?Im wanting one like the Amish make and something diff. then in book.Please aswser. i like to make Sat.

Hi Janet! I don't know what Avco oil is or which KA recipe you mean, but this is an Amish bread recipe from a clipping that I adapted for the KitchenAid machine to make it easier. It's a wonderful bread recipe that I think you will enjoy!

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